We met under a shower of bird-notes. Fifty years passed, love's moment in a world in servitude to time. She was young; I kissed with my eyes closed and opened them on her wrinkles. 'Come,' said death, choosing her as his partner for the last dance, And she, who in life had done everything with a bird's grace, opened her bill now for the shedding of one sigh no heavier than a feather.